A Weekend Adventure (With Steve)
by angelofjoy
Summary: Danny needs to get out of his rut and find himself a better place to live, but you know it's not going to be that simple, not with Steve around.
1. Friday

**A/N: Hey everyone. This is just a short four chapter story that came about because of my vignettes I've been working on. Hope you enjoy it. A few of my OC characters show up in this story so if you haven't read about Danny's mother, you might want to check out _Makuahine_ and _The Jersey Appeal_, but it isn't necessary to this plot.**

**Big Thank You goes out to my Beta Kylen, who has been dealing with my terrible writing so very well. Thank you a million time!**

**So I hope you enjoy this little adventure. **

Chapter 1: Friday

Danny walked into the office on Friday morning and the first thing Steve noticed was that Danny looked exhausted – like he hadn't even put any effort into getting ready to come to work. He stumbled toward his office, dragging his feet, with a newspaper under his arm and the largest coffee Steve was sure he'd ever seen in his hands.

The door to the office closed behind Danny and all Steve could do was watch in sudden concern.

"That was odd," Kono commented as she slipped into Steve's office and shut the door behind her.

"You noticed it too?"

"How could you not? His hair is all over the place and Danny's hair is always perfectly coiffed – if it's the only thing he does in the morning, it's his hair."

"It's gotta be that shithole of an apartment he's living in now," Steve said as he stood from his desk and moved to the window with Kono where they both peeked through the blinds toward Danny's office and noticed that the Detective had his head down on the desk. "Should I check on him?"

"I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen Danny this tired."

"Maybe I should call his mother and ask her opinion." Steve stated as he turned toward the office phone.

"Is that what you do any time you're not sure about Danny – you call Veronica?"

"Who better to tell me how to deal with things involving Danny than to call his mother – the one person in all of the universe that knows exactly what is going on in Danny's head even if she isn't here with him."

"Or you could ask him – I'm sure he would tell you what was going on."

"Ask him or ask his mom…" Steve asked himself over and over as he paced the length of his office.

Suddenly the door opened.

"Do we have a case?" Danny asked as he looked at Kono and Steve.

Danny's eyes were red and blood shot – the lids were drooping and the brilliant blue had faded to a dull and almost sickly-looking grey.

"No, not right now, why?" Steve asked as he stopped pacing.

"Because you and Kono are in here being all secretive and you're pacing. I noticed it from my office." Danny stated and fell into a chair. "You either, one, have a case, two, are keeping secret, or three, you're discussing how disheveled I am today. I'm leaning toward the last because you kept peeking through the blinds at me – not very stealthy McGarrett, and it's rude."

"He was going to call your mother – he's that worried." Kono stated as she pointed at Steve.

"Oh God, don't call Veronica – that's the last thing I need right now." Danny sighed and scratched at the scruff that had appeared all around his face.

"You didn't even shave this morning and your hair is a mess. What's the matter?" Steve asked.

"Well, considering I didn't sleep last night, at all, I'm sure I could look much worse."

"No, you look bad." Kono commented sympathetically. "I don't think I've ever seen you look this unkempt – not even when you've gone on chases or thrown yourself into the ocean after a suspect."

"Do you need some time?" Steve asked with concern. "Like you can go home and we can deal with desk work today."

"I'd love to, but there is no guaranteeing that I'll sleep there during the day. If I can't sleep at night because of noise, what would make the day time any different?"

"You could go and sleep at my place – at least get a few hours." Steve suggested.

"I'll be fine."

"Danny, you brought in the worlds largest coffee today, and has it helped?"

"I haven't even tried it."

"Go to my place, crash for a few hours and come back to work when you're rested. You are useless to me like this, and your hair all mess like that is kinda freaking me out."

"Alright, but if anything comes up, you call me." Danny stated as he stood and turned to leave the office.

"You have a key?" Steve asked.

"I still have your spare."

"I gotta get that back from you."

"Alright, later," Danny said and walked out of Steve office.

"The unkempt hair was freaking you out too?" Kono asked with a laugh once Danny was out of ear shot.

"Oh yeah, and we have got to get him out of that crappy apartment."

5-0

Four hours later, as the lunch hour drew to a close, Danny walked back into the office. He'd gotten a little sleep. His hair was fixed but he had not shaved and the bags were still surrounding his eyes.

"Feel any better?" Steve asked when Danny joined them at the smart table.

"A little," Danny answered, "what are we working on?"

"I'm just prepping for my court appearance this afternoon," Kono confessed, "and Chin's got a meeting with the Governor that Steve's going to sit in on."

"What do you want me to do?" Danny asked as he leaned on the table.

"I want you to go to your office and skim through some of the listings I found for you. I think you need to get out of that apartment." Steve ordered.

"You want me to apartment shop on company time?"

"…or get caught up on paper work."

"Paper work - got it." Danny huffed and walked off toward his office.

"Is this new place really as bad as you are making it out to be?" Chin asked once Danny was once again out of ear shot.

"It can't be as bad as the last – I mean HPD took down the last one because it was a meth den. Thank goodness Danny got out of there when he did."

"It's as bad, if not worse," Steve sighed, "he needs to just stop looking at crappy little apartments. He's getting full custody of Grace. He needs space, he needs quiet and she needs a bedroom that doesn't consist of kicking her father out of the one bed room and landing him on the fold out couch. Or in this new place's case, the couch because there isn't room to fold it out."

"There's got to be something we can do," Kono said as she watched Danny fall into his seat, through the open blinds, and push aside all the research Steve had done.

"We have to make him think it's his idea to get a better place."

"It is my idea!" Danny yelled from inside his office. "And yes, I can still hear you even with the door closed!"

"I better head out, I don't wanna be late," Kono giggled, gathered her things and waved to her friends.

"And we don't want to keep the Governor waiting." Chin sighed.

"We're heading out," Steve stated as he popped his head into Danny's office, "and we probably won't be back before you go home, so I'll pop by your place later to see how you are doing."

"Yeah, whatever, don't get the taskforce shut down – behave yourself in your meeting with the Governor. I need this income!"

"I can't promise anything." Steve laughed and left.

5-0

Danny stayed behind his desk, in the peace and quiet of the empty office, finishing up paper work that was standard operating procedures, but that didn't often get the attention it deserved because Five-O was always so busy. He finished up what he had set out to do, quicker then he usually would, and then turned toward the pile of print outs and news paper listings that Steve had piled high on his desk.

"These are all houses, or all out of my price range." Danny sighed and swept the pile into the recycling bin. "What am I going to do, baby girl?" he asked as he looked across his desk at the picture of his daughter. "I know I need to find you something, and I know that if I do and I finally settle I'll be able to save some money, but I haven't been successful yet. What could possibly be different about this time?"

5-0

Danny sat in quiet contemplation for a long time and was only shaken out of his thoughts when Kono walked back into the office.

"Why are you still here?" Kono asked with a laugh. "Your five o-clock shadow is turning into a full on beard." She teased.

Danny rolled his eyes, "just getting caught up and enjoying the silence."

"Shall I set up a cot for you and you can sleep here?"

"I didn't think that was an option."

"It's really not," Kono sighed sympathetically. "How bad is it Danny?"

"Well, last night after having spent most of the evening working our way through a huge science project for the science fair that was happening at Gracie's school today, I finally got her to bed at about midnight and I tried to crash on the couch, but my neighbours seem to think that when the sun goes down it's party time. There were two arrests made because of complaints made on the building, not by me, and the rest of the time was spent with people running up and down the hallways trying to take cover from the cops that just kept coming around, and they were sounding their sirens every single time. Don't they know that it looses the element of surprise that way?" Danny asked. "Needless to say, I didn't sleep and I absolutely wasn't going to show my face while the cops were snooping around my building for fear of being recognized and then I had to get Grace up and get her to school, but I forgot the project at the apartment so I had to go back and get it, but the cops were back again and I had to sneak back out again because I lied about why I had showed up."

"Oh Danny, you need to get out of there."

"I know, Kono, but I've been so unsuccessful, I just don't know if it will ever happen."

"Maybe it's time for you to start look for a house," Kono suggested. "There is a pretty little place going up for sale just down the street from Chin's. It's a great neighborhood and you'd probably be paying as much a month on a mortgage as you would in rent. The best thing about it would be your proximity to your neighbors and it would be a place just for you and Grace."

"It sounds so ideal."

"Because it is." Kono smiled. "You should really think about it Danny, and if you need any help, you know I've got your back."

"Thank you, Kono. I promise, I will think about it."

"Okay, I'm going to head out. I've had enough work and aggravations for one day. Care to catch a wave with me?" she asked.

"I'd probably lop my own head off out there today. I'll pass, but I will rain check you."

"Go home and try to get some rest."

Danny nodded and followed Kono out of the office.

5-0

Steve showed up, later on Friday evening, to find Danny looking just as tired as he had left him, but he had managed to shower, shave and change into something more suitable for home, then what he was wearing at the office.

"Grace is already in bed," Danny said as he led Steve into the living room – if that was what you wanted to call it. The room was tiny, hardly big enough for the couch, a chair and the TV, but Danny had managed to squeeze a coffee table in there as well. Steve was surprised he didn't have to duck to move around – the ceilings were so low.

Steve placed the case of cold beer down on the floor beside Danny and then moved through the small space to take up his place on the other side of his partner.

"Danny, I really think it's time to give up on the idea of finding a suitable apartment and change you search parameters. Include houses on the island and not apartments because the only places you seem to be able to afford are places only drug dealers and prostitutes will move into once you've moved out," Steve said as he stretched out his arms and touched both opposite walls in Danny's place as he tried to avoid tripping over the coffee table Danny had his feet rested on.

"It's funny because it's true," Danny sighed from his place on the couch. "Did you read in the paper about that drug bust last week?"

"In the last place you lived – only it was two doors down from your apartment?" Steve asked sarcastically as he fell onto the couch with his partner.

"Yup," Danny answered, "that's the one. The whole building was condemned after the raid on the meth lab and twelve more known fugitives were dragged out of there for being associated with the sales of said drug."

"Thank God you weren't living there anymore. Can you imagine what would have been said about Five-O had they found out that you lived there and didn't know that every apartment around you was rented by felons?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I gotta get out of these shitty places and into something better." Danny sighed.

"What do you think will be bust at this place?" Steve asked jokingly.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure the second floor is a brothel," Danny answered seriously. "And there's illegal gambling out of the basement. I went down to the laundry room the other day and was invited to play poker as long as I kept my mouth shut."

"You weren't wearing your badge?" Steve asked in shock.

"With how high profile Five-O is, and how recognized we are everywhere on this island, your best is 'you weren't wearing your badge?'" Danny asked with a laugh. "I was in sweat pants and a t-shirt and I'm sure I looked like a bum but I was shocked that they didn't recognize me." Danny retorted. "Or maybe they just didn't care. How much authority could I have? I was doing laundry."

"You didn't join in, did you?"

"I'm living in this dump, where I know bad things are happening. Do you think I can afford to gamble legally, let alone illegally?"

"Good point."

"I need to get outta here." Danny sighed as the banging on the walls started again. "Last night I'm sure the first floor and lobby were used for a pit party, but it got broken up – three times. Then it would start again, the cops would come back, then they would leave, then they would come back and that is how I spent my night."

"Well, you could call the cops on the brothel and the gambling and have the building shut down, and then you would have no choice but to leave."

"Or you could be my back up and we could go apartment shopping this weekend because you know the island better then I do and maybe you'll have better luck finding something suitable."

"Or that." Steve nodded. "You know I've got your back."

"Yeah, I know." Danny sighed and sipped his beer. "For now, I just have to suck it up and maybe get really drunk so that I might pass out."

"You can't – isn't Grace here?" Steve asked.

"She is, and she seems to be able to sleep through anything."

"She sleeps because she knows you are here to protect her. She has nothing to worry about. You, on the other hand, will worry about your little girl and that is what will keep you awake."

"I can't believe I have her living in a place like this." Danny sighed. "It makes me a terrible parent."

"No, it doesn't," Steve said as he reached over and grabbed his partner's shoulder. "We'll find something that you can be proud of."

"Then, once I'm out of here, we'll shut down the building and I'll be proud of that."

"Okay, good." Steve smiled. "Then it's settled. I'll pick you and Grace up early tomorrow and we'll get this house hunting started."

"Apartment hunting," Danny corrected.

Steve sighed, but wasn't about to argue because Danny just looked too tired.


	2. Saturday

**A/N: Hey Everyone! As promised here his chapter 2. I hope this is something to brighten the fact that there is a repeat on tonight because of the debates…sorry Americans but your elections take way too long – just saying. **

**In other news; I plan to work on all of my other stories and hopefully over the course of the week I will make several updates. For now, all I have is this. I hope you like it!**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 2: Saturday

Saturday dawned beautifully sunny and picturesquely peaceful. Danny had managed a few hours of sleep once his noisy neighbors had settled down and Steve had let Danny consume a few more beers then he would usually. The alcohol-enduced slumber didn't last long, but Danny was able to get back to sleep and woke again with the sunrise.

Grace was up soon after that, and as always, Danny was a doting father, getting her ready for her morning tennis lessons – which Stanley was still paying for because Grace liked them – and breakfast, which was one of the meals of the day that Danny was actually good at preparing.

Steve walked in just as Danny and Grace were sitting down to breakfast, and he plopped himself down on the couch beside Grace. "Breakfast me Danny," he ordered out loud as he winked at Grace and she giggled.

"Breakfast you?" Danny asked as he peeked around the corner, from the kitchen, and gave Steve a look that screamed annoyance. "Didn't you eat before your warrior workout? Weren't you up at the crack of dawn consuming raw eggs and granite before you launched yourself into a full marathon, while pulling your truck uphill, all while assembling and disassembling your bazooka?"

"Ha, ha, you're so funny," Steve stated sarcastically as Danny placed a plate of pancakes before Steve and then sat down with his own in the arm chair that was jammed into a corner and that faced the sofa at an awkward angle. "For your information, I went for a swim today."

"All the way to Maui?" Danny teased.

Grace giggled.

Steve rolled his eyes. "No, just laps between my properly line and the two places on either side of my house."

"How many laps, a million?" Grace asked and Danny winked at his daughter.

Steve laughed. "No, about thirty."

"And that took you all of twenty minutes," Danny said between bites of his breakfast. "Then what did you do?"

"Perused the news paper for rental listings, cleaned the kitchen, and threw in a load of laundry."

"You make your life seem as boring and uneventful as mine is, and that just makes me miserable because you're a Super SEAL."

"We do laundry too, Daniel. We're only human."

"But you use kryptonite, right? It's the best thing for getting out all those stains in your 'uniform,'" Danny teased.

Grace giggled again.

Steve rolled his eyes again. "Alright, I'm changing the subject." He said as he threw his hands up, "Let's talk about what you're really looking for in an apartment."

"You're going apartment hunting?" Grace asked brightly.

"We have to get out of this place, Baby Girl. There just isn't enough room here for the two of us."

"Oh thank God," Grace said and smiled.

"See, Steve? It really is that bad."

"You didn't have to convince me, Danno. I know it's bad."

"So we need two bedrooms, we need space, we need good neighbors and we need quiet. And it should be close to school and work, and have parking, and be close to the beach," Grace stated and listed off all the things that she wanted in a place to live.

"And it has to be within my budget," Danny added.

"And it shouldn't be as dark and gloomy as this, and people that are probably not the riffraff of the community probably shouldn't be having parties in our parking lot." Grace added.

"They party in the parking lot?" Danny asked in shock.

"The past two nights they have been," Grace stated. "They woke me up, so I looked outside and saw them all down in the parking lot, then the police showed up and they left, so I went back to sleep."

"We need to get out of here." Danny stated and stood.

Grace nodded and handed her plate back to her father.

"I completely agree. Hopefully, we'll have something great by the time your tennis lesson is over, Grace." Steve said as he handed his plate to Danny as well. "So I think we should get a move on."

"I agree. I'm ready to go." Grace jumped to her feet.

"Dishes first," Danny stated and motioned toward the kitchen.

Grace sighed and rolled her eyes, but followed her father to finish her chores.

"You have to understand that once we have a bigger place, you are going to have more chores to do," Danny said as he looked down into Grace's pouting face. "But with more chores, comes a higher allowance."

Grace smiled.

"How much are you squeezing out of him as it is Grace?" Steve asked as he leaned against the wall between the kitchen and the living room.

"Twenty dollars a week," Grace smiled proudly as she dried the dishes and put them away – Danny washed.

"Not bad," Steve smiled. "So what, you gonna get a ten-dollar raise with a new place?"

"I don't know," Grace answered and looked to her father.

"Five dollars should be a sufficient raise." Danny smiled.

"I'll take it."

"I would too." Steve laughed and when the dishes were finished they headed out the door.

5-0

Once Grace was safely dropped off with her tennis teacher, and he was instructed not to release her to anyone except for Danny or Steve, unless he was given Grace's super secret code word, which was known only to Grace and the Five-Os and Kamekona, Danny and Steve headed off to view the first of a long list of apartments.

Steve ruled out the first apartment, judging by the state of the building and the broken glass scattered all over the parking lot. The second was seen, and left within three minutes because of a smell that seems to stay with them for miles after they had left and couldn't quite be identify, and the third was smaller then the one Danny was currently in, so it, too, was a big fat NO.

The fourth seemed promising enough as they were headed into a really good neighborhood and Kukui High School was located directly across the street. Upon seeing it, Steve was discouraged, but Danny was ready to consider it.

"Maybe you could redecorate or something and this place won't look as bad as it actually is." Steve said with a sigh as he looked around yet another disaster of an apartment Danny was about to rent and call his 'home' for the foreseeable future.

"This isn't permanent." Danny retorted, which was his go to response in the situation. "One day I'll find the perfect, not haunted, little house, somewhere on this island. I'll mortgage myself to the gills and then I'll have all the stuff that I kept after the divorce sent out here, and I won't have to keep paying for that storage unit in Hoboken that costs me nearly as much as the rent on this place. I swear to you, I do have stuff. I just don't have anywhere to put it and I don't want to keep moving it until I know I am going to stay in one place for an extended period of time," Danny explained as he came out of the second bedroom, which was about the size of a closet and shrugged. "I wonder if the landlord would be willing to move this wall out about a foot and a half."

"I doubt it." Steve sighed and looked out the window.

"All right, let's move onto the next." Danny sighed as he came and stood by Steve. "This is another huge waste of time."

5-0

By the time Grace's tennis lesson was over, Steve and Danny had been through eight apartments and found fault with all of them. They picked up Grace and after suggesting that she join them, an invitation that she passed up for an afternoon at a friend's house, Danny and Steve headed for another three apartments that they would view before lunch.

The first was a no the moment Danny shook hands with the landlord and saw that he was completely stoned out of his mind. The second was turned down because of its proximity to the fish market and the ever-wafting fish odor that seemed to permeate everything from the doors, to the floors and even walls. The last before lunch turned out to be the most promising, with two large bedrooms, a bathroom with a full bathtub and a living room that was about the size of a dance floor.

"This isn't bad," Danny said as he smiled and walked to the window – and unfortunately looked out on an industrial park full of bulldozers and tractor trailers. "Curtains could help but the noise from that might be a bit much." He sighed and turned away from the window.

"Why aren't we looking at houses?" Steve asked with a sigh as he stuck his head into the kitchen, grimaced and turned around. "No, that kitchen is terrible, we're leaving." He stated and pushed Danny toward the door.

"What, what the hell is wrong?"

"The sink is full of rust, the stove doesn't have burner knobs and I don't know what is leaking out of the fridge but there was a puddle."

"Okay, so this one is a no," Danny sighed and followed Steve out of another building and back to the truck.

"Like I said before, why aren't we looking at houses?" Steve asked as he grabbed a real-estate news paper off the back seat of the truck and crossed out the last of the apartments that Danny had circled. "We could go right now and get you pre-approved for a mortgage, I'll co-sign with you to get you started, and then we could look at houses this afternoon. There are several listed here for relatively good prices and like you said, you are paying double what you would pay in rent to rent and hold your storage unit in New Jersey. Put those into a mortgage payment and you're set. These places are nice and close to Grace's school and not a far distance from Kukui High School."

"Why should I care about Kukui High School over any other high school on the island?" Danny asked with a huff and Steve passed the newspaper back to him with his newly circled selections.

"It was good enough for Chin and I, it should be a good enough school for Grace, and because you said that you're were planning to settle permanently, you're going to have to look into high schools in a couple of years for Grace. I'll vouch for Kukui being a great school, with great extracurricular programming, and academic standings," Steve explained. "How soon can your stuff be shipped out here and your contract on the storage locker canceled?"

"I haven't even found a place yet. Can we not jump to conclusions?"

"I refuse to let you rent another apartment when that money could be going toward the purchase of your own house. There is no better time then the present." Steve stated. "I'm taking you to the bank now."

Danny sighed.

"All right fine, we'll go to this one first. While I'm signing my life away at the bank, you make the calls to arrange to see the houses. This wasn't really the plan for my Saturday afternoon."

"I know, but I think it will be great. We'll pick up Grace from her friends and then she can help you pick a house." Steve smiled and put the truck into gear. "And I'm sure she'll be really happy to get all of her stuff out of storage here too. Not that we don't want to keep Stanley handing over the money he's paying for that locker he's renting."

"He's not renting it, I am," Danny huffed. "I do get child support from Rachel, which ultimately comes from Stanley and it pays for that storage locker, because again, I don't have space for all of Grace's stuff and I could be using that money on her everyday expenses.

"All the more reason to get a house and put that money into getting Grace more stuff, and saving for her education," Steve said and changed his tune when Danny glared at him.

"You really want me to stay here and settle here, don't you?" Danny asked suspiciously. "Because if I get a house, I'm not leaving ever and you're stuck with me."

"I know you're staying. There really isn't any discussing that anymore, after what you went through to keep Grace here. So you may as well give up this apartment living and make a life here in Hawaii. It's your home now, Danny, and you know it as well as I do, so stop pretending, procrastinating and get it done. You'll be happier once you have settled on the perfect place."

"Some of these are in really nice neighborhoods." Danny admitted as he turned back to the paper.

"That one is in Chin's, just down the street. When Grace starts working and driving, you and Chin can carpool to work." Steve smiled.

"Whoa, no way man, I'm not giving the Camaro up to Grace."

"You're right; Stanley will probably buy her a car anyway."

Danny glared.

"If you can get a car out of the guy for your daughter, I say do it!"

"I don't want to talk about my baby girl driving, and under no circumstances are you going to be her first driving teacher. I forbid it!" Danny stated and waved a sharpie in Steve's face.

"Are you going to rule out Chin's neighborhood because of this conversation?" Steve asked with a roll of his eyes.

"No, three bedrooms, two bathroom, full kitchen and dining room, a den and family room, with a lanai and beach access, sounds like the perfect place for me to raise my child." Danny stated. "That will be the one to beat. The only problem is the price. I don't think I want to go any higher then three hundred thousand. My children's children will be paying the mortgage when I'm dead and gone."

"It sounds nicer then my place!" Steve stated as he stopped the truck outside of the bank and snatched the paper out of Danny's hands.

"It's mine McGarrett!" Danny stated and hopped out of the truck. "A house to put all _my_ stuff in, remember."

"I'll sell you my place!" Steve laughed and then waved Danny away to get his affairs in order.

"Aren't you coming?" Danny asked as he leaned in the door.

"I'll be in, in just a few minutes. I need to make a couple of calls." Steve smiled and Danny left him alone.

5-0

An hour and a half later, and completely starving, Danny and Steve walked out of the bank and headed across the street to a little café. They sat down in one of the booths and promptly the waitress came to them with menus and water. They ordered and nearly as promptly their meal had arrived and was enjoyed until they were interrupted by the arrival of a stranger – well, he was a stranger to Danny at least.

"Danny, this is Paul, he's an old friend of mine." Steve smiled as he stood, shook Paul's hand and then made the introduction.

"Hello Paul, friend of Steven," Danny said skeptically eyeing the man and his business suit. "Weren't you given the memo that people in Hawaii don't wear ties?"

"Outside of business hours you wouldn't catch me dead in one," Paul laughed and sat down beside Danny. "But I'm working, detective, and I have to make the good first impressions."

"I see, and what is it you do?"

"Paul Clarke is one of the most successful realtors on the island," Steve stated.

"I knew you looked familiar." Danny laughed. "Your face is on a bunch of park benches and bus stop billboards."

"Yes, it is." Paul sighed and there was something like embarrassment in his tone.

"How did you get messed up with Steven?" Danny asked to ease the awkwardness.

"He's an old high school friend," Paul answered cheerfully. "So I, too, will vouch for the great reputation of Kukui."

"Paul got me through advanced calculus."

"And Steve got me a place as kicker on the football team."

"We reconnected when I got back to the island," Steve admitted. "He was my best friend then. I just kinda had to find out what happened to him."

"And he found me to be a mild-mannered realtor."

"I was just a homicide detective when I met him, he changed me somehow. I would warn you to keep your distance, but I'm sure you've heard of his insane behavior."

"He's sitting right here, Daniel."

"I know that's why I said it, Steven."

"So, how long have you two been married and on the market?" Paul asked with a laugh.

"Danno needs to get out of these shitty little apartments and into a house," Steve stated in response. "I refused to let him throw his money away any longer."

"It's a very good market right now. I have a few properties lined up, including the one that you starred as the one to beat," Paul explained and pulled a file out of the briefcase he was carrying. "We'll leave that one for last."

"Okay, let's do this." Danny sighed.

"Are you a first-time home owner, Detective?" Paul asked.

"No, but buying and selling my last place in Jersey wasn't a walk in the park and I'm really kinda dreading it now."

"Don't worry, as Steve said, I'm the best on the island. We'll find you something before the day is out."

5-0

Danny was surprised by the quality of the properties and the ease at which Paul seemed to pull them out of thin air. Each one had a little something that was desirable and a little something that needed to be changed, but overall, the experience of looking at houses had turned into an enjoyable afternoon, but nothing was perfect just yet.

The third house they walked into was a little farther from work then Danny would have liked. It was even farther then Steve's place, but the beach was right across the street. It had four bedroom, two bathrooms and a full attached garage. It was light and open. The kitchen and dining room flowed together and the back of the house had a huge yard with fruit trees and flowers like Danny had never seen before. The house was a foreclosure and so it was right within Danny's budget.

"I can tell that you two seem to really like this place. I'm going to hang back here and let you do a walkabout alone. When you're done, just come back out and tell me what you think. This one is priced to go and only came onto the open market this morning. You are the first to see it." Paul explained.

"First and last I think," Danny stated optimistically as he and Steve walked back into the house.

"This place is really great, Danny, I mean look at the view from the front of the house – right out at the water. You could run, with your surfboard from front steps to surf in less then ten yards!"

"I know, and look at this kitchen Steve. It's huge, and open, and look at the view of the back yard. Shall I call it my back yard? I could play catch in that back yard. Grace wanted a little garden. And look, it has a separate room just for laundry. No going out, no worrying and waiting around Laundromats, no going down to the depths of another dark apartment building and doing laundry in sketchy places with illegal gambling. I have a laundry room, right off the kitchen."

"Um…Danny, I don't think you can buy this house." Steve said sadly as he walked into the laundry room and turned on the lights.

"Why, please tell me why. This place is perfect Steve. It has a fourth bedroom. My parents could come and visit and stay with me. I can have a family dinner in _my_ dining room. Grace could use the third bedroom as a playroom because this house has a room designated as an office. It's within my budget. Please, please don't ruin this for me. Please."

Steve looked heartbroken at the sight of his friend, but he couldn't let it pass. "Danny, look, what do you see?" He said and pointed at the wall.

Danny looked closer and saw the mark, the faint hints of the trail, and a faint odor of bleach and wall plaster. "It could be from anything, Steve." Danny protested but his detective instincts were telling him something completely different.

"It's from a bullet."

"Okay, go get Paul. Ask him if something happened in this house. Maybe it wasn't just a foreclosure," Danny said with a sigh.

"Danny, this is fresh," Steve stated as he touched at the spot on the wall that was covering the bullet hole and the putty came off the wall at his touch. He pulled an ultraviolet light out of his pocket and, with one quick movement, scanned the wall.

"Where did you get that?" Danny asked in a huff.

"I told Max we were going apartment hunting for you and he told me to take this so that I could make sure the places were clean," Steve answered. "This laundry room has been covered in blood recently."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"I'm sorry, Danny." Steve sighed. "We will find you something."

"It's just our luck. We can't do anything without finding a body."

Steve thought for a moment and then realized that Danny was correct in his accusation. "Are you implying that it's my fault that there was a dead body in this house?"

"No, I'm saying that we just can't have nice things because we are cursed." Danny stated sarcastically. "This is why I hate house hunting. It always turns into a bigger ordeal then it has to be, and because I seem to be cursed in everything I do, it must be me."

Steve tried not to laugh. "So what do you want to do?"

"What else can we do? This is a crime scene now. Call Kono and Chin and get them out here to investigate, and Charlie Fong and his people." Danny said as he leaned on the dryer and something inside tumbled.

Danny jumped.

Steve threw open the dryer door and the body began to spill out.

"And a coroner," Danny said with a shake of his head. "This place is a definite no."


	3. Sunday

**A/N: Hello everyone! It's Monday once again and we finally have a new episode of Hawaii Five-O coming up tonight, and I'm once again ready to start a week worth up updating. So thank you to everyone reading all of my stories, and especially this one – it means so much to me and I love all the comments. Thank you. Also to everyone up in Vancouver, I'm hoping you are all safe after the earthquake and on the East coast of Canada and the USA, stay safe through this hurricane – my prayers are with you all.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 3: Sunday

The house was pulled off the market right away, and by Sunday morning, it was a buzz with police activity.

Danny and Steve walked back into the house after having spent the morning questioning Paul on his business and clearing him as a suspect. They then visited Max, checked out the body that had been found in the dryer and retraced their steps back to the crime scene where Kono and Chin had spent the whole morning with the crime lab officers.

"So what do we have?" Danny asked as the four of them stood in the kitchen.

"The house is clean. It doesn't look like anyone has lived here in a very long time, but we do know who was the previous owner," Kono answered.

"We also know that the foreclosure happened about six months ago. The house was completely gutted and renovated by the bank and was to go back onto the market this weekend. You two were the first people to actually walk through the house since construction ended last week. Max's preliminary investigation puts the time of death of our victim at less then twelve hours ago and the laundry room was the only room where any blood evidence was found. CSI did, however, manage to get foot prints that were not yours and some hairs in the laundry room, but they had been bleached in the clean up and probably won't tell us anything conclusive." Chin took over when Kono had finished.

"HPD and CSI are combing the neighborhood for the trash that is missing from the house. We know there should be cleaning supplies somewhere and probably more trace evidence that has been removed from the scene. They are paying close attention to the back ally, behind the fenced yard, and believe that is the way that the killer got in – through the back," Kono added. "And, there are surf cameras out front as well. I've requested the surveillance from the cameras be retrieved and sent to Five-O. There are four cameras along this stretch of beach. We are hoping to have the footage in the next few hours."

"All right, good, Chin, you and Kono head back to the office and wait for the footage. Danny and I are going to pick up where we left off yesterday."

"All right, see you back at the office." Chin smiled and he and Kono headed out.

"We are back were we left off yesterday," Danny stated once Kono and Chin had left them alone in the kitchen of the murder house.

"Not exactly, Paul had a few more properties to show you and now that we have cleared him as a suspect, we can get back to house hunting."

"Steve, don't you see? I'm not meant to find a house. I'm meant to be a homeless detective, saving everyone else. I can't go out house hunting with a murder suspect on the loose."

"We have to wait for footage and forensics, and Max to finish his autopsy. All we have to go on, we're waiting for at this point in the investigation, so why shouldn't we be productive in another way?" Steve asked as he looked around. "Unless you think you can just solve this case by standing around and doing nothing."

Danny sighed but wasn't in the mood to fight.

"I swear, Danny, I am going to find you a house!" Steve vowed. "Now, come on. Paul is going to meet us at the property in Chin's neighborhood. Let's get a move on."

5-0

As discouraged as he was, Danny went along with Steve's plan – always telling him that it would only be a matter of time before Chin and Kono came up with a lead and they would have to leave the house hunting for another day. That being said, Steve became even more determined.

The property in Chin's neighborhood became the one to beat. It wasn't as spacious as the now-murder property, and the fact that murder had occurred there had ruled it out completely for Danny, but this house had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a beautiful open kitchen that came with appliances, and a den that could work as an office and a living room that was perfect to act as the TV room. There was a full garage attached to the house, with laundry hook-ups in it, and out the front, much like the murder property, was the beach.

"This place is perfect for you Danny," Steve stated as he walked around the kitchen. "Plenty of space for dining if you are going to invite your parents to stay and an extra bedroom for guests, you have laundry in the garage, the beach out front and its within your budget. I dare you to find fault with this place."

"It's not as close as I would like to Grace's school." Danny sighed as he looked out at the back yard from the kitchen. "And the yard is a little small, but I guess that means less work for me on my days off."

"It's also a high-priority property. There are a lot of people interested in the place," Paul added. "I don't want to get your hopes up, but if you are serious about this place I would suggest offering what the home owners are asking for because, if my sources are correct, all other offers have come in under the asking price. You may take it if you offer what they are asking."

"How long do I have to think about it?" Danny asked with a clear bout of confusion and apprehension passing over his features.

"I would say no later then the end of the day," Paul answered. "We could always put in the offer and drop it if the other properties I have lined up for your viewing are better suited to your needs."

"Put in the offer," Danny said with a nod as his phone started to ring. "I don't think we're going to have time to view the next properties." He added and answered the phone.

5-0

"What do you have for us Max?" Steve asked as he and Danny walked into the coroner's office and found Max still hovering over the body of their victim."

"I found trace evidence on the victim's clothing," Max answered precisely. "There are hair and fibers that I have sent off to the crime lab for analysis but I have ruled out any fibers that might have been in the dryer because I have been told by your CSIs that the dryer had never been used. It was a brand-new appliance added to the home to bring up the value and entice potential buys."

"I was ready to buy because of the laundry facilities," Danny admitted.

"I would have been as well, Detective," Max smiled. "The fibers that were found seemed to be irregular for the condition of the house and the clothing that your victim was wearing." He explained, returning to his initial topic of interest.

"What were the fibers?" Steve asked.

"I believe that they are fiberglass."

"I can see why that would be odd," Danny stated, "I don't remember seeing any fiberglass in the house, and our victim was wearing a business suit."

"Precisely." Max nodded and moved toward a microscope. "I also found traces of gunpowder on the body, which indicates that the murderer fired the weapon more then once, which would be consistent with your finding another bullet in the house, and your victim has postmortem bruising and defensive wounds. He fought with his killer before he was shot. I managed to retrieve the bullet from within the victim's skull and I have sent that off to the crime lab for analysis as well."

"Any idea of who our victim is?" Steve asked as he looked down into the face of the dead man.

"There wasn't any identification found on the body. No car keys, no cell phone, no nothing, so it has been difficult to identify the body. I am running him through facial recognition as we speak and a bulletin has been put out for missing persons. When we find something, we'll let you know."

"There wasn't a vehicle at the house either, so either our victim and his murderer came together, or we need to be looking for more evidence." Danny said that out loud, but the comment was more made to himself in his musings.

In that moment Steve's phone began ringing. "It's Chin, they found something on the surveillance."

"Thank you for all your help, Max," Danny stated and followed Steve out of the coroner's office.

5-0

Steve and Danny walked into the Five-O headquarters to find both Chin and Kono busily scanning through footage and traffic cameras.

"What have you found?" Steve asked as he scanned the monitors.

"We have two vehicles arriving at the house. The first belongs to our victim. His name was Jarvis McKnight and he worked for First Hawaiian Bank," Kono explained. "From what we have been able to gather, from the cooperation of his employer, we know that he is a real-estate banker and he was in the process of returning the house, and several others, to the market after the foreclosure. That was his job and that is all he did with the bank."

"Then we have our suspect showing up, shortly after and leaving, with a briefcase and taking Jarvis's car. He returns an hour later, on foot, with groceries and then leaves again at dusk in his own vehicle," Chin added.

"Do you get a clear shot of the suspects face?" Danny asked.

"No, he clearly knew the area and the placement of the cameras. You never see more then the side of his face and his hair covers most of it. We have sent HPD out to canvas the neighborhood to see if they recognize him," Kono answered.

"What about the cars?"

"We have a partial plate on the suspect and a full plate on the victim's car. We're running it through our kaleidoscope program to see if we can locate the cars," Chin added. "And we have followed the suspect in his vehicle as far as we could through traffic cams. We lost him when he disappeared into Kailua. It was from the traffic cams that we were able to piece together a full plate number, but the car was reported stolen three days ago and we haven't been able to put a lock on its location since."

"Does this all sound premeditated to you?" Danny asked as he turned and looked at his partner.

"It does indeed."

"We need to find those cars, and I want to know everything we can get our hands on that is going to tell us about the previous owners of the house and why the foreclosure happened," Steve stated. "I have a feeling this all has to do with that house."

"Me too," Danny nodded. "But I have to run and pick up Grace and get her ready for school tomorrow. I'll be back as soon as I get a sitter to be with her for the evening."

"We got this cover, partner, if anything comes up I'll call you." Steve smiled. "Spend the last of your weekend with your daughter."

5-0

With no major breaks in the case, no frantic phone calls from Steve, and only the occasional check in to say that they had found the car, found the information on the house and had yet to find the suspect, Danny was left to his own accord and remained with his daughter for the remainder of the evening – all they could talk about was the excitement of a new house.

A call did, however come in from Paul, and after one more, quick walkthrough of the property, a second offer was made and Danny needed to be in Paul's office, and make contact with his bank the very next morning. Danny called Steve one last time with the news, told him he would be late to work the next morning and not to get into any trouble before he got there. Steve was more then happy to give Danny the needed time off and the rest of the evening was spent in relative peace with Grace.


	4. Monday

**A/N: Happy Monday Ladies and Gentlemen. Today I bring to you the finale to A Weekend Adventure. Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed this little story and I hope you enjoy all the other ones I am working on for you. **

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 4: Monday 

Danny walked into the office slightly later then he'd anticipated. He'd taken part of the morning off and was expected back at work as soon as his appointment was over, but it had run late and Steve had begun to worry that all of their hard work over the course of the weekend had been for not.

"So?" Steve asked as Danny walked in finally and came to stand with the rest of the team around the smart table.

"So have you found our killer yet?" Danny asked.

"That's not important!" Steve stated and Kono and Chin both glared at him as Danny face-palmed himself.

"Me signing my life away to buy a house is more important then solving a murder case? Steven, where are your priorities?"

"So you got it then?" Steve asked with a smile, and ignoring everything else Danny had said.

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as of ten this morning I, Daniel Williams, have officially purchased a house on the island of Oahu," Danny stated. "Now can we please get back to work?"

"Conformity," Kono giggled. "You are now, officially, Kama'aina."

"Just wait until he starts nesting," Chin added.

"It's a really nice place. We'll have a party as soon as Danny takes possession." Steve added.

"As soon as Danny takes possession, all his stuff arrives from New Jersey and Grace's things come out of storage here, and once we put all this Ohana stuff aside and work on the task at hand – namely out murder victim." Danny huffed.

"The guy we found was identified as the banker involved in the foreclosure of the property, but you already knew that. The bullet in his brain was matched to a gun registered to the man that formerly owned the house, Colin Fogarty. HPD went out at about nine this morning and found the suspect, and the stolen vehicle in the garage of the rental property Colin and his family were staying in. When asked about his gun and the car, he confessed to the whole thing," Steve explained. "We also found the files and the victim's car stashed in a long-term parking facility. All of the information, and the dealings with the Fogarty family were found among the files, and Colin had already purchased tickets for his family to flee to the mainland. Their rental agreement had been terminated and they were going to be off the island by tomorrow had we not happened to make a walkthrough of that house."

"But why kill Jarvis?" Danny asked.

"Because, Jarvis, in the beginning, was the man that had talked Colin into the high-interest mortgage in the first place. It was their history of dealing with one another that lead to the confrontation. It turns out that Jarvis wasn't wholly undeserving of what happened to him. The Fogartys weren't the only family threatening him. He was dirty and embezzling much of that money, knowing full well he was going to foreclose on all of those people," Chin explained. "Colin admitted this morning to leaving all of Jarvis's files in the car to be found because he believed it was evidence that would prove that Jarvis was just as corrupt as so many people believed him to be, and he was right."

"But why kill him and not report him?"

"Colin had reported Jarvis, but without the evidence to support his claims, and the bank backing Jarvis, Colin believed that the only way to achieve justice for his family was the confront Jarvis himself. The stolen car was to be used because Colin used to live in the neighborhood and the neighbors would have been able to identify his vehicle. He claims that the theft of a motor vehicle was all he had planned to be charged with once the case against Jarvis came public. He said that killing Jarvis was never his intent in the beginning but in the heat of the moment, and as Jarvis fought back, Colin was forced to draw his weapon and killed Jarvis. Jarvis was the one that forced Colin into a corner, in the laundry room, and Colin believed that he was in danger and has his own defensive wounds to prove his story," Kono said as she handed Danny the file containing Colin's confession and photographs of his injuries.

"So he's claiming self defense?"

"No, he knows he did wrong. He admits to stashing the body and plotting to leave the islands. He's ready to accept the charges that are all put against him now," Steve said. "He believed that he was going to get away long enough to hide out from the law, but he didn't anticipate your house hunting to ruin his plans. You say it's all your bad luck; I'd say you are the luckiest of all of us."

"What about the fibers on the body?"

"They were indeed fiberglass consistent with the fabrication of surf boards – from the board shop that Colin worked at," Kono explained.

"So that's it then," Danny stated.

"Case closed." Kono smiled.

"So let's talk about upgrades," Steve stated and pointed at the computer screen as he wiped the case away. "This is a mockup of your new place. Kono thinks you should take the carpet out of the den and put in cork flooring. The whole place needs new paint and you need to have a landscape company come in and trim all of your trees and shrubs in your back yard to make things easier for you on your days off."

"And counter tops, Steve forgot to mention new counter tops in the kitchen," Kono added, "and retiling the floor and back splash."

"And where is Danny getting the money to do all this?" Danny asked.

"Kamekona knows a guy that can get you stuff cheap," Steve said with a smile.

"Do you remember the last time you asked Kamekona for help with renovations after the General Pak incidence?" Danny asked skeptically. "The house is fine and in a couple of years I'll think about the upgrades, for now at least it's a place to live and it's mine."

"Danny, you bought a house!" Steve stated excitedly. "I told you we'd be successful – man, we're awesome!"

"Oh, trust me, I know. Handing over the deposit this morning and waiting for that final call from the realtor made me have a minor cardiac episode, but I knew it was the perfect place for me when I brought Grace on our final walkthrough and she laid claim to her bedroom right away," Danny explained with a smile.

"So she liked it then?"

"She loved it, and that is all I could hope for," Danny answered. "I got the keys to the house this morning and we plan to be moved in by the end of the month. I've already called my mother and father in Jersey to empty out my locker and ship all of my things. They are going to make the trip to make sure all of my stuff arrives safe and sound, and they are going to help me move in. I want to paint, and take out the carpet before they get here – the kitchen renovations will have to wait."

"They can stay with me this time around," Steve stated with a smile, "and next time, they'll have a bedroom in your new house."

"Thanks," Danny smiled, "anyone wanna come and check out my new place right now?" he asked as he pulled the keys out of his pocket.

"Yes!" Kono and Chin stated together.

"All right, seeing as the case is closed, let's all go."

"Shouldn't we maybe start plotting our take down of the people that are infesting your current residence?" Steve asked as a playful smirk crossed his face.

"We can't shut down the apartment complex just yet," Danny said with a sigh. "I still have to live there till the end of the month!"

"No, you don't," Steve smiled, "You could come and crash with me, just until you are ready to move into your house, and we can take down the brothel and the illegal gambling that has been keeping your awake."

"Danny, illegal activities are happening out of this place too?" Kono asked in shock.

"Oh yes."

"You can't go back there and neither can Grace." Steve stated. "You go and gather your things, while we gather some evidence to shut down that terrible place."

"Give me a couple of hours and I'll be out."

"You've got two hours, and then I'm going to need my partner."

"I guess we have a new case," Kono smiled as she looked to the three men that stood around her.

"You go help Danny, and see if you can't get us some evidence to merit the raid."

"I'm on it!" Kono stated and flounced a little.

"So me moving out of that shithole has turned into an undercover operation?" Danny asked.

Steve smiled.

"Of course it has." Danny sighed. "It's always an adventure with you."

The End


End file.
